Sentinel pulls away to beat talented Hamilton Broncs

It was No. 1 vs. No. 2 with a twist Tuesday, when Missoula Sentinel hosted a young Hamilton girls’ basketball team and handed the Broncs a 69-41 loss.

The final margin suggests a mismatch, but the Southwestern A Broncs – ranked second in Class A – trailed by just 10 points after three quarters and were down 52-39 with 5 minutes left.

The defending State AA champs used a closing 17-2 burst, littered with steals and fast breaks, to improve to 9-0. Olivia Roberts led the top-ranked Spartans with 16 points and 15 rebounds.

“They’re a good team; they’re fun,” Sentinel coach Karen Deden said of the Broncs, who fell to 9-2. “They’re excellent shooters and you know – Goligoski can fill it up.”

Taylor Goligoski, the lead 10th-grader on a sophomore-laden team, scored 26 points for Hamilton. She had 16 points at halftime, by which point Sentinel led 34-18.

She also had 11 points in the first 5:17 of the game, when Hamilton led 13-11. Deden called time out and the Spartans scored the next 11 points.

Sentinel didn’t trail again, but Hamilton didn’t exactly wilt. A barrage of third-quarter threes, two each from Goligoski and Brianna Huggans, kept the Broncs in range.

“They really have an offense that’s right for them,” Deden said of the Broncs. “And those kids have played together since they were young, so they’ve got that going for them.

“Toward the end, when Liz (Harper) and those guys had some steals, I really thought that was the deal-breaker.”

After two Goligoski free throws pared the gap to 52-39, Bri Olson made a steal and pass that the athletic Harper deftly snared and converted in traffic.

Amanda Bearmedicine, who had 12 points and eight rebounds, sandwiched fast-break baskets around a Jaylee Albert free throw for a 58-40 Sentinel lead.

In a blink, Olivia Roberts added a hoop to make it 60-40 with 3:00 left.

“Obviously Sentinel is the real deal,” said Hamilton coach Mark Albert. “They’re well-coached and play hard, and are really athletic. I was pleased with how we closed the gap. We made a game of it there for a little bit. It could have got to 28 a lot sooner than it did.”

Sentinel ruled the boards 44-26. Goligoski snared 12 rebounds for Hamilton, which boasts nine sophomores, a junior and a freshman on its varsity.

“Taylor was terrific tonight,” Albert said. “We just have to get some other kids to knock a few more shots down.

“We had a stretch there where it was 45-35, and we had three good looks at threes and they didn’t score between. We could have made it a little closer at that point. We’re really young and just have to keep getting better.”

The Spartans are 9-0; going back to last season the program has 18 straight wins.

There were easier ones than Tuesday’s in the streak.

“Liv and Liz, they made some amazing catches,” Deden said. “And ‘Bear’ made some amazing fade-aways. I was really happy to see the overall team effort.

“It was a good game – a really good game. The score does not reflect the game.”